This morning we got to sleep in a little bit since we did not have to leave until 10. It was nice to have a bit of extra time to drink my coffee. The hotel here has a fancy latte machine so now I can drink coffee that actually tastes good instead of the garbage hotel coffee we've had to choose from the rest of the trip.
We walked about 25minutes to Hampton Court and spent a good part of the day there. I think I left there around 2:30 to walk back towards our hotel and I did't even see everything. I spent most of my time in the palace instead of the gardens. It is so large you can easily get lost without a map. My favorite part was all the tapestries around the palace. There was one in nearly all the bedrooms, and halls but the Great Hall had them on every wall. I think I counted at least 12 in there which is about a fifth of the tapestries in the entire palace. These tapestries are among the earliest and most important works in the Royal collection* and they are made entirely of gold and silk threads. It's incredible to see that they have been able to keep these maintained so well over several hundred years.
While we were in the great hall Liam and I sat at the kings table and pretended we were kings at a feast. After our feast of of nothing, they started a performance of a few scenes from A Midsummer Night's Dream. This is actually the hall where it would have been performed for the kings and queens at the time. It was cool to sit there and watch the same show they would have sat there and watched. Susanna and Chad were chosen to be Pyramus and Thisbe and they put on an excellent show. I think they were loving it, but i don’t know if anyone was more excited than Liam was to watch his parents perform. It was definitely a highlight for sure.
After the show we toured Henry VIII apartments and then stopped for lunch. I got Apple, pear and parsnip soup and a coconut loaf. It was so good. Then we headed outside to see the gardens. We walked past the tennis courts and decided to go in and watch for a bit. There was a group of palace members playing in there. The game itself is very different to what we call tennis in the US. The goal is to hit certain points on the wall in order to score and the rackets are no bigger than a man's hand. We only watched a few minutes before continuing to the gardens. I walked on to the maze because I promised Liam I would race him through and beat him. Although I never found Liam again so I went through the maze alone and got stuck behind a family with a stroller and it totally killed my time. If Liam asks, I did it in three minutes. ;)
I walked back toward the hotel with Sean and Amy. We took the long way through the park and got to watch a few cricket games. It's a very quiet, civil sport. I think it's fun to watch. We decided to stop at the mall by our hotel so they could get some lunch. After we got back to our hotel I went back to my room to do a final pack and write my last journal entry. Salina and I watched 13 going on 30 and then ventured out to find a five guys because what got for dinner from Pret ended up being so bad we couldn't eat it. Once we secured an edible dinner we got in bed and were both asleep by 10. We wanted to get some rest before our LONG travel day ahead.
We had an eight hour flight from Heathrow to Chicago this morning and now just left the Chicago airport for our final leg of the trip. Almost home!
*Royal Collection Trust
https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/trails/tapestries-in-the-royal-collection
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